1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a spray head having a rotary nozzle.
2. Background of the Related Art
Spray heads are commercially available in numerous designs and configurations for use in showers, faucets, whirlpools, sprinklers, and industrial processes. While many spray heads are designed and sold for their decorative styling, there is a great number of different showerhead mechanisms which are intended to improve or change one or more characteristic of the water spray pattern. Any particular spray pattern may be described by the characteristics of spray width, spray distribution or trajectory, spray velocity, and the like. Furthermore, the spray pattern may be adapted or designed for various purposes, including a direct jet stream for massaging of muscles, a pulsed jet, or a more uniform soothing spray or jet, to name a few.
The vast majority of spray heads may be categorized as being either stationary or oscillating and having either fixed or adjustable openings or jets. Stationary spray heads with fixed jets are the simplest of all spray heads, consisting essentially of a water chamber and one or more jets directed to produce a constant pattern. Stationary spray heads with adjustable jets are typically of a similar construction, except that it is possible to make some adjustment of the jet opening size and/or the number of jets utilized. However, these types of jets provide a straight often piercing directed flow of water.
These stationary spray heads cause water to flow through its apertures and contact essentially the same points on a user's body in a repetitive fashion. Therefore, the user feels a stream of water continuously on the same area and, particularly at high pressures or flow rates, the user may sense that the water is drilling into the body, thus diminishing the positive effect derived from such a spray head. In order to reduce this undesirable feeling, various attempts have been made to provide oscillating sprayheads.
Examples of oscillating sprayheads include the showerheads disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,584 (Drew et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,357 (Baisch), 4,018,385 (Bruno), U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,457 (Brewer), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,664 (Heitzman). U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,457 (Brewer) discloses an oscillating showerhead that uses an impeller wheel mounted to a gear box assembly which produces an oscillating movement of the nozzle. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,664 (Heitzman) discloses a showerhead having a rotary valve member driven by a turbine wheel and gear reducer for cycling the flow rate through the housing between high and low flow rates. Both of these showerheads require extremely complex mechanical structures in order to accomplish the desired motion. Consequently, these mechanisms are prone to failure due to wear on various parts and mineral deposits throughout the structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,584 (Drew et al.) also discloses an oscillating showerhead, but utilizes a nozzle mounted on a stem that rotates and pivots under forces places on it by water entering through radially disposed slots into a chamber around a stem. Although this showerhead is simpler than those of Brewer and Heitzman, it still includes a large number of piece requiring precise dimensions and numerous connections between pieces. Furthermore, the Drew showerhead relies upon small openings for water passageways and is subject to mineral buildup and plugging with particles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,927 (Lee) discloses a showerhead with an apparatus having a plurality of blades designed to produce vibration and pulsation. One blade is provided with an eccentric weight which causes vibration and an opposite blade is provided with a front flange which causes pulsation by momentarily blocking the water jets. Again, the construction of this showerhead is rather complex and its narrow passageways are subject to mineral buildup and plugging with particulates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,547 (Golan et al.) discloses a shower head including a housing, a turbine and a fluid exit body, such that fluid flowing through the turbine causes rotation of the turbine. The rotating (spinning) turbine can be used to cause rotation of the fluid exit body and/or a side-to-side rocking motion in a pendulum like manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,438 (Meyer) discloses a sprinkler head having a housing with an inlet, a water distributing structure having a nozzle on one end and a cup shaped element at the opposite end which is operative in response to the tangential flow of water into the housing for effecting the orbital movement of the nozzle. There is also disclosed a disk that rotates in rolling contact with a surface within the housing for effecting the fractional rotation of the nozzle. The cup shaped element rotates about the longitudinal axis in response to the flow of water from the inlet.
A particularly useful action for a showerhead is referred to as "wobbling." The term "wobbling" may be defined as the motion of a circular member rolling on its edge along a surface following a circular path. A common example of wobbling is what occurs when a coin is spun on its edge over a smooth surface. The coin begins spinning or rotating in a vertically upright position, but as the coin slows, the coin begins to wobble along a circular path having an ever increasing diameter until the coin comes to rest on its face. While a wobbling motion will often be accompanied by some degree of rotation, a wobbling member will have points on its surface which experience a sequence of up and down motions as well.
Whirlpool baths are equipped with nozzles that cause the water in the bath to be turbulent and waving, preferably to impart a massaging of the skin and muscles or a gentle rocking of the body. This is typically accomplished with high pressure water jets that draw water from the bath and circulate it back into the bath at a high pressure and flow rate. However, due to the size of a typical whirlpool bath and the flow rates required to operate the whirlpool bath, there are typically about six or eight nozzles in a whirlpool bath. This finite number of nozzles causes general agitation of the bath water, but the water flowing from individual nozzles is fixed and may channel through the bath water in a fairly constant path.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved apparatus that delivers water in a continually changing manner, such as wobbling, rotating, and the like. It would be desirable if the apparatus were able to deliver water in the desired manner, even at low pressures or flow rates, perhaps those dictated or desirable for water or energy conservation. It would be further desirable if the apparatus provided a simple design and construction with minimal restriction to water flow and open conduits for reducing the possibility or extent of plugging.